How to Make Butter

As the main shopper in my household, I’m always looking for ways to save on the grocery bill, especially when it comes to basic staples of the pantry that my family consumes regularly.

So when a friend passed on a set of instructions on how to make butter I thought I’d give it try.

Growing up in the south, there’s not a recipe I know of that doesn’t involve butter in some measurement. Being a naturalist, I refuse to buy margarine, the comparable and cheaper alternative. Opting instead for the big packs of organic butter from Costco which typically run somewhere around $9 dollars for 8 sticks of butter. Even buying in bulk that can add up pretty fast when just about every baked good out there calls for butter.

That’s why I decided to try my hand at making my own butter, just to see how hard it would be, if the taste was any different from store bought butter but most importantly if it would save me money on my grocery bill.

Now when I first imagined making homemade butter I pictured myself sitting in the kitchen with a big butter churner working myself ragged tying to churn all that butter by hand. Turns out, with modern technology that’s no longer necessary. If you have a food processor, cake mixer or blender you already have all you need to make your own batch of delicious homemade butter.

I’ve compiled a list of some of the best guides on the web to get you started. There was a wide range of videos and tutorials to choose from, so I’ve decided to include only the ones that I found most useful and concise.

Tutorials:

Simple Pleasures of Homemade Butter

Butter Recipes

Making Butter

Homemade Organic Butter Recipe

http://1greengeneration.elementsintime.com/?p=685

Videos:

Books:

The Complete Guide to Making Cheese, Butter, and Yogurt at Home: Everything You Need to Know Explained Simply (Back-To-Basics)

The Great Big Butter Cookbook

Making Cheese Butter and Yogurt: Storey’s Country Wisdom Bulletin

Flavored Butters: Nuts, Dairy, Herbs, Fruit

What’s The Savings?

So I bet you’re wondering how much you actually save by making your own butter?

One pint of cream yields 1 cup of butter and one cup of buttermilk

One cup of butter = 2 sticks or half a pound

Depending on where you live, a quart of heavy cream usually goes for about $3, which makes around 1 lb. or 4 sticks of butter. Obviously, buying such small amounts it can actually cost a little more than just buying the butter outright. However, after doing a little research and some calling around I found a local farm in my area that sells heavy cream made from raw organic cows milk (the creme de la creme of heavy creams) for only $4/gal which brings it to a $.50 cents per stick of butter when all is said in done.

Bottom Line

Store bought butter = $1.12 per stick

Homemade butter = $.50 per stick

That’s less than half what I pay for organic butter from Costco!

Even if the savings isn’t huge – it’s worth it just to have that yummy jar of delicious butter spread ready to go whenever a fresh batch of cornbread, muffins or sourdough comes out of the oven!

Preserve Your Homemade Butter

You can even preserve your delicious homemade butter by canning it yourself! My Mom has been doing this for years and swears it has saved her lots of last minute trips to the grocery store.. not to mention the cost savings!

Canning Guides:

To Bottle or Not to Bottle Butter
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/327278

Great Products:

If you find yourself making butter so often that it becomes a hobby, like it did for me. You might want to consider getting an Electric Butter Churner or Butter Maker. You can make a lot more in one batch then a food processor and it taste even better.

They also have Butter Powder for those who simply don’t have time to make homemade butter but want to make sure they have some in food storage.

***Bonus for Moms***

Here is a great homemade butter recipe you can do with the little ones!

http://imnh.isu.edu/digitalatlas/teach/lsnplns/butterlp.htm

***This article was contributed by Chrystle Poss a.k.a. “Survival Girl”, a Survival Spot Blog Guest Author and devoted Survivalist. She has been writing articles on survival and emergency preparedness topics since 2006. You can find her work on various websites and publications.***